Chiayi

Chiayi is the plains city where the Alishan Forest Railway begins its climb from palm fields into cypress cloud forest. It suits travellers building their Taiwan trip around one big mountain experience: sunrise over Alishan's sea of clouds. October to December gives the best odds of a clear morning.

• Ride the century-old Alishan Forest Railway into the mountains — around NT$600 ($19) one way
• Watch sunrise over the sea of clouds from Alishan's ridge lines
• Walk the giant-cypress trails among 1,000-year-old trees; park entry is around NT$300 ($9)
• In town: Hinoki Village's Japanese-era wooden houses and Chiayi's famous turkey rice

High-speed trains from Taipei reach Chiayi in about 1.5 hours for around NT$1,080 ($34). Note that the HSR station sits outside town — a shuttle bus links it to the city centre and the regular train station where the forest railway starts.

For Alishan itself, take the forest railway (book well ahead; seats are limited) or the bus — about 2.5 hours up the mountain either way, and roughly NT$250 ($8) by bus. Stay a night at Alishan so you can catch the pre-dawn sunrise train; day-trippers from Chiayi miss it.

Chiayi sits midway down the west coast, so it slots neatly between Taichung or Sun Moon Lake and Tainan on a north-to-south loop. Half a day covers the town itself — the mountain is the reason you're here. Route ideas in our Taiwan guide.